USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 3
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The term of Smith having expired, Captain George Percy, a younger brother of the Earl of Northumber-
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land, was elected president. Smith, in September, 1609, sailed for England, never to return again to the scenes of his toils and sufferings. An eventful life was nearing its close. "The Father of Virginia," the benefactor of his country and his race, he who had faithfully discharged every duty imposed upon him, was yet to feel the sting of base ingratitude. Those whose interests he had served best were the first to condemn his actions. Like Columbus, Boone, Robert Morris, and a host of others whose lives were to be known and their labors appreciated by succeeding generations, his name has become one of the most illustrious that appear in the early history of America. Truly has it been said, that great men are never known by the age in which they live.
At the time Smith left Jamestown there were four hundred and ninety-three persons in the colony, all well sheltered and supplied ; but the master-spirit was gone, and soon anarchy ruled supreme. Such was the inac- tivity, profligacy, recklessness and insubordination that by the approach of early winter they were confronted with starvation. In addition the Indians, determined upon the utter extinction of the colony, hung upon the outskirts of the settlements, burning houses and mur- dering all who were so unfortunate as to fall into their hands. Then a pestilence broke out, and so great was the fatality that by the return of spring there remained but sixty persons alive in the colony, and they must have perished had not assistance reached them. Just as the last ray of hope was yielding to despair, Sir Thomas Gates and his crew, who had been wrecked in the West Indies, arrived at Jamestown ; but what must have been their feelings when, instead of finding
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the colony in a happy and prosperous condition, they met only a few famished wretches begging for bread ! Gates supplied their wants from his store-ships and assumed the government.
The few survivors had, however, resolved to abandon Jamestown at the earliest opportunity, and thus forever bid adieu to a place which promised nothing but death. In vain did the governor remonstrate. Four pinnaces lay at anchor in the harbor. It was the intention to sail for Newfoundland, and there the remnant of the Virginia colony was to remain among the fishermen until some vessel would carry the wanderers to Eng- land. Thus was to end in failure the efforts of the London Company, as had those of Raleigh and Gos- nold before. The colonists crowded on board the pin- naces, and on the 8th of June dropped down the river. But Lord Delaware was already within the bay, and before the disheartened colonists had reached the mouth of the James his ships hove in sight bearing new emigrants, plentiful supplies, and a governor who gave promises of better things. The hitherto discouraged but now rejoicing colonists were taken on board, and all returned to the deserted town, where before night- fall all was happiness and contentment.
Lord Delaware's administration was characterized by justice and mildness; he endeared himself to the colonists and inspired them with hope, but he did not long remain ; in the early autumn his health failed and he delegated his authority to Percy, the same who had relieved Smith, and sailed for England.
Sir Thomas Dale was already on his way to Virginia bearing a governor's commission. Upon his arrival he assumed the government, making martial law the
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basis of his administration. He was a soldier by birth, and had won distinction in the Danish wars. The colony needed a strong government, and there was, therefore, very little complaint against his military rule. During his term of office the population was augmented by the arrival of 300 emigrants from England.
The last act of Governor Dale marks an era in the history of Virginia. This was nothing less than a division of property. Ever since the founding of the colony all property had been held in common, after the manner of the primitive Eastern nations. The colo- nists had worked together, and the products of the harvests had been deposited in a common storehouse, where all was under the control of the council. Gov- ernor Dale changed all this by causing the lands to be laid out into lots of three acres each, one of which was to be given to each of the settlers-to hold forever- upon which he might plant orchards and cultivate grain, with the understanding that none had a right to gather but himself. Thus the right of property in land was, for the first time, recognized in the New World. The colonists saw the advantage of individual labor, and the good results were soon apparent in the general improvement.
Dale surrendered the government to Sir Thomas Gates, and, selecting 300 men, began a settlement on a narrow neck of land, which he called Henrico in honor of Prince Henry. Other settlements were made on both sides of the river at considerable distances from the parent town, and the foundation of the first American State was thus securely laid.
It was now the year 1612, and King James, who
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made change the rule of his reign, granted a third charter to the company, by which many important changes in the government were made. By it the privileges and immunities were greatly increased; its jurisdiction was extended over all the territory within a radius of 300 miles from Jamestown ; they were per- mitted to elect their own officers, to decide all ques- tions of law and right ; in fact, to govern the colony on their own responsibility. This was the germ from which sprang democratic government in America.
In the year 1613, Captain Samuel Argall, while cruis- ing in Chesapeake bay, made a voyage up the Potomac, where he heard of the presence of Pocahontas, whom he succeeded in enticing on board his boat, and then carried her to Jamestown. There the authorities detained her with the expectation that her father, Powhatan, would pay a ransom for her. Instead, the old chieftain became highly enraged and prepared for war; but before hostilities began, John Rolfe, a highly respected young planter, enamored with her beauty and fascinated by her manners, wooed and won her affections and the promise of her hand. Powhatan gave his consent to the union, and sent her uncle and two brothers to witness the ceremony, which was cele- brated with great pomp, according to the rights of the English Church. In 1616 she accompanied her hus- band to England, but was very unhappy. Captain Smith, who was then in London, called to see her, but appeared to be somewhat reserved in his manner. This added to her burden of grief, and she wept like a child. Smith inquired the cause of her grief. "Didst I not save thy life in America?" said she. "Didst thou not promise that if I went into thy country thou
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wouldst be my father, and I shouldst be thy daughter ? Thou hast deceived me; behold her now a stranger and an orphan." Pocahontas was warmly received. Lady Delaware introduced her to many families of distinction, who paid every attention to the modest daughter of the western wilderness. But nothing could dispel the gloom which surrounded her, and in a short time she fell a victim to the united effects of disease and grief, and died at Land's End, just as she was about to re-embark for America. One son, the issue of this union, became a man of prominence in the affairs of the colony; and to him many families of Virginia, among whom are the Randolphs, Bolings and the Robertsons, trace their ancestry.
Early in the year 1616 Gates and Dale both sailed for England, and left the government in the hands of Sir George Yeardley, whose administration was similar to that of his predecessors. The colony increased in numbers, the social condition improved, and industry on the part of the colonists and respect on that of the savages, brought about a feeling of security and con- fidence hitherto unknown in the history of Virginia.
In the year 1617 Yeardley was succeeded by Cap- tain Argall, who proved himself to be the most tyran- nical governor that had yet swayed the sceptre over Virginia. He was a sailor by profession, and ac- customed to the rigid discipline of the seas, where he had long held despotic rule over the decks of his own vessel. Naturally cruel and covetous, he was entirely unfit to administer the government as it then existed in Virginia, and as might have been expected, his ad- ministration became a synonym for fraud, corruption and violence. When the news of his high-handed
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oppression reached England, the London Company re- quested Delaware to return to Jamestown, and again assume the government of the colony. He yielded to their importunities, and set sail, but died at sea. Argall continued his maladministration until 1619, when he was superseded by his predecessor, Sir George Yeardley, who, through the influence of Edwin Sandy's, treasurer of the London Company, was appointed to his former position.
With Yeardley as governor, and important changes in the London Company, the colonists expected a period of prosperity, and their expectations were fully realized.
Martial law was abolished; the governor, in ac- cordance with instructions from the company, divided the plantations along the James river into eleven dis- tricts, called boroughs, and issued a proclamation com- manding the citizens of each TO ELECT two represent- atives to take part in the government; the election was held in the latter part of June, and the first House of Representatives in the New World convened at Jamestown on the 30th day of July, 1619. This body was called the House of Burgesses, and by it was " debated all matters thought expedient for the good of the colony." A number of acts were passed, which were pronounced by the company to be " well and judiciously carried," but, unfortunately, we have no record of them.
In this eventful year Sir Edwin Sandys recognized the fact that the stability of the colony could only be secured by the establishment of family ties. Up to this time very few of the colonists had come to Vir- ginia with the intention of finding a permanent home.
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By far the greater number were adventurers who left England with the determination to return at some time-either after they had accumulated a fortune, or gratified a desire for adventure. The endearments of home and friends are the ties that bind men to a fixed habitation, and now, if these could be found on this side of the Atlantic, then would the adventurers relin- quish the fond hope of returning to find them in the mother country, and thus the permanency of the col- ony would be assured. To achieve this end was the determination of Sir Edwin, and during this year he sent over twelve hundred and sixty emigrants, among whom were ninety "agreeable young women, poor but respectable and incorrupt," who were designed as wives for the colonists. Shortly after another con- signment was made of " sixty young maids of virtuous education, young, handsome and well recommended." Such is the compliment paid by the historian of that day to the first mothers of Virginia. It has been said that they were sold to the planters at prices ranging from one hundred to one hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco. This is not true. They were transported at the expense of the company, and when they were chosen as wives the fare for transportation was paid by the husband. Thus domestic relations were established ; then came habits of thrift, an increase of comforts and consequent happiness. Within the next two years fifty land patents were issued and three thousand five hundred emigrants found homes in Virginia.
It was the policy of King James to increase the pop- ulation of the colony as rapidly as possible, and with that end in view, despite the protest of the London Company, he sent over one hundred " idle and disso-
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lute " persons who were in custody for various misde- meanors, and who were transported only to escape a worse fate at home. They were sold as servants to the planters, who endured their presence only because of the profits derived from their labor and the in- creased assistance thus secured in carrying into effect the various industrial enterprises then projected by the colonists.
This beginning created a desire on the part of the colonists to employ other labor than their own, and the opportunity to gratify it came only too soon. It was in the month of August, 1620, that an event occurred which was destined to stamp its impress upon the pages of American history-an event so far-reach- ing in its consequences that no prophetic eye could foresee what they were to be. No one thought that an institution was then taking root which, in the dis- tant future, would involve the American States in civil war and almost wreck society itself. This event was none other than the introduction of African slavery. A Dutch vessel sailed up the James and sold twenty negroes as slaves to the colonists. The world knows the result.
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Another change was now to take place. A new constitution was prepared for Virginia, and Sir Francis Wyatt was appointed to succeed Yeardley in the gov- ernment. The new code was modelled after that of England, and was a long step toward representative government. ( It acknowledged the right of trial by jury ; but the most remarkable provision was that which bestowed upon the House of Burgesses the power to veto any objectionable acts of the company.)
Three years of prosperity had spread settlements
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far and wide; they extended for nearly a hundred miles along the banks of the James, and far into the interior ; several had also been made on the Potomac, so that by the year 1622 there were no less than eighty hamlets dotting the country around the shores of the Chesapeake. The only cause for anxiety was the fear of Indian hostilities, and well indeed might this anxiety exist, for there was now a plot being laid which, had it been carried into execution in detail, would not have left an Englishman alive in Virginia.
The friends of the colonists were gone. Pocahontas had died in a foreign land, and Powhatan had also passed from among the living. His brother, the cun- ning and revengeful Opechancanough, had succeeded him. He had long looked with a jealous eye upon the encroachments of the English, and saw in their occupation of the country the fate of his own race ; and, now that he was vested with the power which his brother had withheld from him, he determined to an- nihilate the colony at one fell blow. To meet the English in the open field only insured his own defeat, owing to the disparity in arms; and the fact that the number of fighting men were now nearly equal, would have resulted in just what he wished to avoid-the de- struction of his own people. His only hope of success lay in some great stroke which should destroy the power of the colony at once. His cruelty and desire for revenge dictated a general massacre.
In order to avoid suspicion, he renewed the treaty of peace with Governor Wyatt, and only two days before the blow was to be struck he declared that the sky should fall before he would violate the terms of the treaty. The friendly relations were continued up
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to the very day, even to the fatal hour. They borrowed boats from the English, brought in venison and other provisions for sale, and sat down to breakfast with their unsuspecting victims. The hour arrived. It was twelve o'clock, noon, on the 22d day of March, 1622, when every hamlet in Virginia was attacked by a band of yelling savages, who spared neither age, sex nor condition. The bloody work went on until 347 men, women and children had fallen victims at the barbarous hands of that perfidious and inhuman people.
Had not a converted Indian who lived with a man named Pace revealed the plot, and thus put the people of Jamestown and immediate settlements on their guard, and therefore in a state of defence, every set- tlement would have been laid in ruins and the inhabi- tants put to the tomahawk. But the intrigue failed. There were yet 1,600 fighting men in the colony, and the Indians were made to pay dearly for their perfidy. The English pushed into the wilderness, burning wig- wams, killing every Indian that fell into their hands, and destroying crops, until the foe was driven far into the interior. Confidence was once more restored, and a feeling of security brought a return of prosperity ; immigration again revived, and at the end of the year the population numbered 2,500.
Differences between the king and parliament had now produced two powerful political parties in Eng- land-the Royalists, supporting the king, and the Patriots, defending the parliament. To the latter be- longed the greater number of those composing the London Company, and as a political measure the king determined to dissolve the corporation by declaring its charter null and void. It is true that the operations
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of the company, in a financial point of view, had been a failure. In eighteen years it had expended a half million dollars, and had sent 9,000 emigrants to Vir- ginia, only 2,500 of whom now remained in the colony. The annual exports did not exceed 20,000 pounds.
We have not space to pursue in detail the proceed- ings, legal and otherwise, of the crafty James. He sent John Harvey, John Pory, Abraham Piersey, Samuel Mathews and John Jefferson, commissioners to "make more diligent inquiry touching divers mat- ters which concern the State of Virginia." The com- missioners arrived at Jamestown early in the year 1624. After remaining a short time they returned and reported the company in a state of bankruptcy, and the government of the colony very badly administered, with no prospect of improvement under its present management. James caused a quo warranto to be issued against the company, and the cause was tried at the Trinity term of King's Bench, for the year 1624. The judges were dependent upon the king for their places, and it is not difficult to determine the result of a trial in which James had such a deep interest. Chief- Justice Ley rendered a decision against the corporation, and the London Company ceased to exist. But its mission was fulfilled; the foundation of the Old Do- minion was securely laid, and it only remained for others to rear the structure.
But little change was made in the government of the colony. This was not the object of the king when he abrogated the charter; his action was directed against the corporation and not the State, and before the few proposed changes could be made James died -March 27, 1625-and was succeeded by his son,
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Charles I., who paid little attention to his American subjects. Governor Wyatt was continued in office until 1626, when he went to England to attend to the private affairs of his father, who had recently died, and Sir George Yeardley was appointed to fill the vacancy. His former liberal administration was remembered by the colonists, and Charles could not have performed an act that would have met with greater approbation. Yeardley's career was closed by death November 14, 1627, and Francis West was chosen governor three days later. He continued in office until March, 1628, when John Pott was chosen in his stead, but he also was relieved in a few days by John Harvey, who arrived from England, and assumed the government early in the year 1630.
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CHAPTER IV.
FROM THE SEA TO THE MOUNTAINS.
Tidewater Virginia -- The Piedmont Region-March of Civilization to the West -Organization of the First Counties-Increase of the same-The Mountain Barrier-The Unknown Regions of the West-Colonel Alexander Spots- wood-His Expedition over the Blue Ridge-The Knights of the Golden Horse-Shoe-Virginia at the Close of the Seventeenth Century.
FOR a number of years after the founding of James- town the settlements were confined to what is known as Tidewater Virginia. This region embraces all that portion of the State lying between the coast and a line drawn through the cities of Petersburg, Richmond and Fredericksburg, which are situated at the lower falls of the Appomattox, the James and Rappahannock rivers, respectively. This line extended, marks the point at which all the Atlantic rivers of Virginia leap from the granite base on which rests the whole Ap- palachian mountain system. Through this region flow many navigable rivers and into it extend numerous coves and inlets, either from Chesapeake bay or the ocean; around them are extensive areas of swamp land. The surface is nearly level, the undulations being so gentle that the currents in the river are scarcely perceptible. The soil is moist and sandy, of an alluvial formation closely resembling that of the Floridian peninsula. The climate during the winter is mild and pleasant, but the summer is sultry.
The Piedmont region extends from the western limit of the above to the eastern base of the Blue
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Ridge, and stretches entirely across the State from north to south. Throughout its whole extent is found a soil of great fertility, and here, for the first time on the Atlantic coast, appear the primordial rocks, the disintegration of which has added much to the soil. Valuable minerals abound, and deposits of limestone sufficient to supply the continent with lime for ages to come lie at a short distance below the surface, The climate is temperate throughout the year and is as healthy as any in the world.
Fain would we linger on the banks of the historic James ; there to dwell amid the interesting scenes around which are gathered the associations of nearly three centuries. The colonial records are crowded with details of the early settlements upon these banks ; Revolutionary history abounds in facts relating to the river country ; here occurred some of the most im- portant events of the second war with Great Britain, and the literature of the late war is largely devoted to a recital of the operations of the contending armies along this river. But we must leave here, untouched, material sufficient to fill volumes, and follow the march of civilization over the Alleghenies and dwell upon the history of the little commonwealth founded by daring pioneers who crossed the mountains, that they might find a home and a rich inheritance for themselves and their posterity.
Virginia was the first State in the world composed of separate political divisions based upon the principle of universal suffrage. It was in the year 1634 that her territory was divided into eight shires or counties, similar to those of England, and named as follows : James City, Henrico, Charles City, Elizabeth, War-
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wick River, Warrosquoyoke, Charles River, and Accomac. Lieutenants were appointed for each dis- trict whose business it was to supervise the military affairs. Sheriffs, sergeants and bailiffs were elected as in England, and commissioners were appointed to hold county courts in the different shires. This was the origin of the county court system in Virginia.
The population increased until, in the year 1671, there were 40,000 English-speaking people in Virginia. They were scattered over the whole of the Tidewater and Piedmont regions, so that thousands of houses dotted all the landscape from the sea to the mountains. Virginia ever tried to keep civil government abreast of her most adventurous pioneers. To accomplish this her House of Burgesses continued to make pro- vision for the formation of new counties. A hundred years passed away, and at the close there were no fewer than thirty-one counties checkered upon the map of her eastern domain.
But little more than a century had passed away since the founding of Jamestown, and the little colony of 105 souls had increased to nearly 100,000. Hardy pioneers had extended the domain of civilization even to the base of the Blue Ridge, but of the region beyond the "Rocky Barrier" nothing whatever was known, for the most daring adventurer had not penetrated its vast solitudes. But the conquest of the wilderness was the mission of those determined spirits, who had fled from oppression in the Old World to find a home of freedom in the wilds of the New. The time was now come when white men should traverse the hitherto unknown region, and return to tell the story of its wonderful resources.
It remained for Alexander Spotswood to lead the
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